Good Leadership matters…

As President Barack Obama sets off on his second-term journey with the big inaugural yesterday, Jan 21 2013, which also coincided with Martin Luther King Jr. day, watching MLK’s ” I Have a Dream” speech on this day provided a new meaning on how far this country has come since independence .

This also, made me wonder what Leadership is all about and the leaders we see in our lives today. What can we learn from these proven leaders!!.

What makes one a good Leader?

A Leader is the one who provides “hope” and “change” through his leadership.

Leadership as we know is a learned behavior and rarely is one born to lead.

Authentic leaders do not crave power. They have a set of morals and values, exemplary character, confidence, and trustworthiness.

A leader needs to be trusted and be known to live their life with honesty and integrity.

A good leader “walks the talk” and in doing so earns the right to have responsibility for others.

In order to lead and set direction, a leader should inspire confidence in others and draw the trust and best efforts of the team to complete the task well.

A leader should work to inspire the team and its members to achieve the objectives so the whole team is successful in the long run.

Hence we need to understand that “Leaders are not born they are made“.

Macho Leadership is Overrated …

A current trend in the leadership philosophy that I see today is where leaders try to lead the way as bullies. These leaders lack goodwill, empathy nor sympathy. They are greedy for power and they have a personal agenda to be the leaders. It is their way or the highway!!.

It’s important to identify such macho leaders early on who try to operate through bullying and brute force to achieve their personal glory. This type of leadership can cause more damage than good to any organization, team or a company.

Hence…

Good Leadership matters because no one and nothing comes to success without it.

In recent years the business world has become more competitive and more volatile. Technological changes are faster, there is greater international competition and the market is global.

So a good Leader is one if he can provide hope to the folks around him to the changes, through good leadership by providing a solid vision and a strategy that leads the way to facilitate better and greater innovations.